I attended a screening of "For Greater Glory," which tells of the Cristiada, the war waged against the oppressive Mexican government in the 1920's by the Cristeros. What a magnificent film absolutely inspiring! Not only should every Catholic see it for its beautiful testament to our Faith, but everyone should see it as a reminder of how precious is the right to religious freedom.

The most haunting line to me: when Plutarco Calles arrogantly says, "The people elected ME!" I've heard that someplace before

When seeing this movie, understand that it concentrates on the the fighting force within the Cristeros, although certainly there are references to those were every bit as much a part of the movement, but who did not take up arms.

Many Mexicans went willingly into martyrdom in that terrible time, many priests and nuns were slaughtered and faced awful outrages—like the saints of old. It is a time that is unstudied today—but it should be.

In addition to the movie For the Greater Glory which will be a must see and which opens June 1, check out the Cristeros on the Internet and in any available histories of this remarkable and often forgotten magnificent few years in Mexico’s resistance to the communist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which ruled Mexico uninterrupted from the 1920s until the election of Vincente Fox in the 1990s. PRI is STILL active and trying to win this year’s election for Mexico’s president. As to corruption, PRI makes the Chicago Demonratic Machine look like Mother Teresa’s nuns.

One of the fellow fishies in Mexico has seen it, recommends it highly.

Two tidbits I must include, from audiosancto:

“Am I allowed to copy these sermons and pass them along?
Yes, but there are a few conditions:

You may not, under any circumstances, identify the priests preaching these sermons or the location where they are being preached (see the explanation below)
You may not make a financial profit from the copying and/or redistribution of these sermons
You may not edit the audio of the sermons in any way
If you can, please say three Hail Mary’s for the priests who preach these sermons, and ask others to do the same
Relay these conditions to whomever you give these sermons

Am I allowed to link to AudioSancto.org from my website, a blog, or internet forum?
Linking to a sermon is fine (please link to the sermon details page, not directly to the audio), but you may not mirror (copy the mp3 file and host it from your own web server) the sermon on another website. Either way, you MAY NOT, under any circumstances, identify the priests preaching these sermons or the location where they are being preached (see the explanation below).
“

For those who like to listen, many good, orthdox Catholic sermons can be found here.

Eduardo Verastegui, who was in the movie, Bella, plays a lawyer/journalist in this movie. I read an article in our local Diocesan newspaper about it. Verastegui said he was 30 years old, and an American asked him about the Cristero War. He was embarrassed, because knew nothing about it; it wasn't covered in history in the schools.

He read more about The Cristero War, and thought he might like to make a movie about it, but he didn't have any production experience at that point. Three years later, the producer of the movie called him and wanted him in it. Verastegui was producing his first movie at the time, but agreed to be in No Greater Glory, and they worked it out so he could shoot all his scenes in 10 days.

I was shocked to read the US supported the slaughter of the Cristeros:

By contrast, later in the war the Calles government was supplied with arms and ammunition by the U.S. government. In at least one battle, American pilots provided air support for the federal army against the Cristero rebels.

Even more recently in Spain (1936), the elected government outlawed Mass and oversaw the slaughter of over 7,000 priests (including 12 bishops) and hundreds of nuns. Oddly enough, the uprising against that government succeeded because Hitler & Mussolini supported it, while the Soviet Union supported the government. The US shunned the Franco government that followed for years until the Cold War made a treaty necessary; at that point Franco let it be known that we were just realizing what he had fought against years before.

The history of the “San Patricios” in the Mexican-American War is often overlooked; they were a few hundred Irish recruits who deserted and fought for Mexico when they saw the destruction of churches and the war waged against fellow Catholics. Their flag was Mexico’s colors with a harp instead of an eagle in the center; when they were captured they were either hanged or executed.

I believe Mexico has a monument to them, and Ireland has one in the hometown of their commanding officer. Tom Berenger was in a movie made about them (”One Man’s Hero”).

The star of this film, Eduardo Verastegui, recently compared Obama to Henry VIII in his relationshio with St Thomas More in that Obama, like Henry, is trying to force others to act against their conscience. I believe there was a thread on this subject just yesterday.

You’re welcome; it was a futile gesture but the Irish can be proud of them (whatever Americans think of them). There was a real clash between Spain’s lost colonies and America’s Protestant ethic; it manifested itself later in the Philippines, when Spain warned the independence-minded Filipinos that the US would not accomodate their Catholicism. It became a moot point as they secured their independence from us as well; they’ve held on to their faith.

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